Detroit Lions pull out sloppy win over Jaguars

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first half of a preseason game at Ford Field in Detroit, Friday, Aug. 22.
Duane Burleson — The Associated Press

DETROIT >> So there’s a reason they call the NFL’s third preseason games dress rehearsals.

No team is ready for prime time quite yet, although Lions’ defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was in midseason form picking up a personal foul for a late hit.

Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions’ offense were slow out of the gate in Friday night’s 13-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Ford Field before an announced crowd of 56,496. The Lions are now 2-1 in the preseason.

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Some good, some bad, some in-between. It’s all to be expected with new offensive and defensive schemes under a new coaching staff.

It wasn’t all on Stafford. In the Lions’ first offensive series Reggie Bush’s 24-yard run was negated by a holding call on Brandon Pettigrew. It was one of the Lions’ 15 penalties.

Also this isn’t the exact offense that will be on display when the Lions open the season on Sept. 8 against the New York Giants at Ford Field. The Lions, like every other NFL team, won’t show everything in the preseason.

“I know Matthew probably didn’t start the way that we all would like him to start, but he came back and was 9-for-9 so he got it rolling pretty well,’’ coach Jim Caldwell said.

Stafford was 10 of 16 for 98 yards. Not gaudy numbers and certainly not helped by an interception by the Jaguars’ defensive end Andre Branch 20 yards deep.

“He drops outside the safety and then circles all the way back around the field and fell right into it,’’ Stafford said. “Calvin (Johnson) ran a great route on his guy, got open and the guy made a good play.’’

Reggie Bush though, helped save the half with an 86-yard touchdown run from a drive the Lions started on their own 3. Bush, who has not lost his explosiveness, finished with a pair of carries for 95 yards.

“He still is who he is, right? A guy with a lot of speed and burst and can still run away from some of the young fellas out there,’’ Caldwell said.

In the loss at Oakland a week ago, there was some concern about the run game (26 carries for 52 yards), but that wasn’t the case on Friday when the Lions had 178 rushing yards. Stafford didn’t attempt a pass in the red zone, giving the running backs more work. More dress rehearsal work.

Late in the first and early in the second, Stafford was five-for-five for 63 yards on one drive, but when Theo Riddick was stopped on fourth-and-1, the Lions walked off the field with no points.

Early in the fourth quarter, Mikel Leshoure had a 30-yard gain and then fumbled the ball on the next play on the Jaguars’ six-yard line.

But on the Lions next drive, Dan Orlovsky connected with Ryan Broyles three times for a total of 44 yards, setting up the one-yard touchdown run by George Winn that gave the Lions the 13-12 lead. Orlovsky was sacked attempting a two-point conversion.

The Lions defense held the Jaguars to two field goals and a touchdown — 330 yards total.

Veteran defensive end George Johnson, who sacked Chad Henne, was impressive. Devin Taylor, who started in place of Ziggy Ansah, also got to Henne. Both were 9-yard losses in the same drive.

Nick Fairley looked solid and had plenty of snaps with the first-string despite not starting.

Tahir Whitehead, who started in place of Ashlee Palmer, was impressive with three sacks and four tackles. Palmer came up big in the second half sacking Ricky Stanzi for a 9-yard loss.

The Lions’ second-string defense gave up a touchdown pass from Blake Bortles late in the third quarter. They tried for a 2-point conversion, but safety Jerome Couplin broke up that play.

Couplin had a hard-hitting night — so much so that he was called for unnecessary roughness in the third quarter. The rookie is going to make it tough to be left off the 53-man roster.

Still much work for the Lions to do before the final cuts are made on Aug. 30. They will wrap up their preseason schedule on Thursday at the Buffalo Bills.